Shifting Steadily
by Ayumu Foxtail-chan
Summary: A little collection of drabbles revolving around some of our favorite Naruto characters! Various pairings, characters, and genres.(#4 - Tailor-Made Friends- Sakura watched from the sidelines, waiting hopefully for her partners' eventual friendship.)
1. A Forced Growth

**Hello there! A little mini-collection of drabbles for all of the lovely characters in Naruto. Various pairings, situations, and characters will be in these. ****They'll all be between 100 and 999 words so this is about the shortest one will ever be. :D****Cute/silly/sweet/heart-warming/I don't know so I continue to ramble-ness ahead, hopefully. XD**

**I hope you enjoy!**

_(Pairing - Main character(s) - genre(s))_

_(No pairing - Naruto - friendship)_

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_~One day, looking back, he'd finally see the good outcome of his battle with Sasuke.~_

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_**A Forced Growth**_

As he laid half-dead from exhaustion on Kakashi's back, bloodied and dirt-smeared, he couldn't see the good in this. He'd been told everything happened for a reason and something good always came out of horrible things, but he couldn't see the good in this.

Later, he'd look back and see that good outcome: the forced growing that the battle with his best friend had shoved down his throat. He'd grown greatly and hardened his heart in a good way, a needed way. Because even though he'd been shattered, it was what he'd needed to find that strength he so desired.

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_The Duel World Challenge - Elemental Hero Knopse - write about something growing - soil - 100 words_

**This was about after Sasuke and Naruto battled, if you hadn't caught on *clears throat*. Anyway, I hope you'll join me on this weird journey of a collection! :D (and I promise I won't ramble in future ones XP)**

**~Foxtail-chan**


	2. Growing on Her

_(Ino x Choji - Ino - friendship)_

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_~The boy that could make her sick to her stomach with one look was slowly growing on her.~_

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_**Growing on Her**_

Maybe he was growing on her –no pun intended. He grew, physically, every single day. She swore she'd never seen a person who could pack away ham like he could and it disgusted her. At first, anyway.

But maybe it wasn't so disgusting anymore. Maybe it was kinda… _him. _Sure, she'd still reprimand him but internally, she'd just shake her head because it was just the kind of thing he'd do.

Maybe he was growing on her, maybe he wasn't, maybe he was just being himself and she was slowly getting used to it. Either way, she wasn't exactly opposed.

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_The Duel World Challenge - Elemental Hero Knopse - write about something growing - soil - 100 words_

**Silly little stupid and pointless thing. Choji and Ino amuse me when they're together. XD**

**~Foxtail-chan**


	3. In the Bloodline

_(No pairing - Naruto - Adventure? Maybe? *shrugs*)_

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_~He guessed his dream of Hokage was just hardwired into his DNA.~_

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_**In the Bloodline**_

Sometimes he wondered why he had such a difficult dream. Why couldn't he have wanted to be a monk or something? Something so much easier than Hokage? It was the most sought-after profession; he had so many opponents.

But then again the thought of those opponents was what really got his adrenaline pumping. He liked the challenge. Maybe he had such a difficult dream simply because he was so ready to face all that opposition. Face it all with a smile.

Of all the things to be he'd chose to be the best. It was how he was wired, he guessed. Something unavoidable. Something in his blood.

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_The Duel World Challenge - Nightmare Penguin - write about a dream - silence - 107 words_

**A little random thingy doodle. Silence was incorporated with the monks... because I had no idea what else to do with it. Heh. XD**

**~Foxtail-chan**


	4. Tailor-Made Friends

_(Hints at SasuSaku - Sakura - Friendship)_

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_~Sakura watched from the sidelines, waiting hopefully for her partners' eventual friendship.~_

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_**Tailor-Made Friends**_

The friendship between Naruto and Sasuke had always been important to me. It should have, one because I was a part of their team. Teamwork was built upon friendship and trust and so naturally I cared about their bond. However, I cared about it in another sense as well. As their friend.

Naruto, bottom of the class and Sasuke, the top, were polar opposites and yet so similar. They were rivals –maybe enemies- from the start, as had been expected. Being similar and yet diverse, they repelled like same-sided magnets.

It may have seemed sudden to some, and others didn't even recognize it: the day when Naruto and Sasuke graduated from being enemy-like rivals to friends, but I saw it.

Maybe we'd just gone on one too many missions together in a row, or maybe we'd just been around one another so much that we'd grown accustomed, but they made peace. They sweated together, laughed together, and pretty soon those scowls I'd always seen, turned to smirks. They smiled at one another for the first time in… a long time. And it stuck.

Sure they were still rivals, but it was different now. They were competitive, but in a comrade way. It was refreshing to see, one as their partner who was a little worried they'd murder one another on one of these missions and I'd be stuck with the mess, and another as their friend who cared about them.

Sasuke mostly, but yeah, I cared about Naruto too, I guess. In an "I'll kill you if you misbehave" kind of way… which was an odd friendship but it worked for us.

And so yes, even from the sidelines as I watched things deteriorate between them and then regrow, more times than I could count, I was routing for them. Because quite simply, they were made for one another. They seemed tailor made to be rivals, tailor made to be at each other's throat and forcing growth out of the other, and tailor made to be friends.

Their friendship had always been important to me, for many different reasons, and some I couldn't even put my finger on. Because it was my two boys, the one I loved and the one I was in love with, and all I wanted to do was see them get along.

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_The Becoming the Tamer King Challenge - registration - write from the pov of a character you're comfortable with &amp; The Writing Undergound Challenge - canon-compliant - write about a friendship that occurs in canon_

**I love the dynamic between Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke. :3 I also don't believe Sakura deserves the extent of hate she gets. She _is_ a weak character in the beginning though... but still, she's interesting in her own way. :D**

**~Foxtail-chan**


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